page_title: Balboa Island, Newport Beach
section_title: Creation by dredging, 1906-1941
hierarchical_section_title: Balboa Island, Newport Beach / History / Creation by dredging, 1906-1941
caption_attribution_description: English: Newport Beach California 4 march 9 2014 photo d ramey logan
context_page_description: Balboa Island is a harborside community located in Newport Beach, California, accessible to the public via bridge, ferry and several public docks. The community is surrounded by a paved concrete boardwalk open to pedestrian traffic, designated as a public walking trail by the city.
  Balboa Island's Marine Avenue is home to local small businesses including restaurants, bakeries and local crafts. The island also has a fire station and a post office.
context_section_description: Collins and Hanson saw Newport Bay’s resort and recreation potential. They took on Henry E. Huntington as a partner in the Newport Beach Company. Huntington had acquired the Pacific Electric railway system and used it to promote new communities outside of Los Angeles. In 1905, the Pacific Electric “Red Cars” were extended to Newport. By 1906, the Pacific Electric line Red Cars began servicing the Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Pavilion, and soon the Red Cars brought thousands of visitors from Los Angeles.
  Collins built a dredge and, by 1906, began dredging a channel on the north side of the bay and depositing the sand and silt on tidelands that would become Balboa Isle.
  Between 1902 and 1907, many of Newport Beaches’ waterfront communities were subdivided, including West Newport, East Newport, Bay Island, Balboa, and Balboa Isle. This established the grid system of small lots and narrow streets and alleys that still exists today.
  Within a few years, real estate promoters began sending salesmen to Pasadena and to Los Angeles (both connected by the Red Cars) to promote property in and around Newport Harbor. Much Balboa Island property was sold in Pasadena, one of the reasons that many longtime Island residents have family and contacts in the Pasadena area.
  In 1908 and 1909, with permission of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Collins moved his small dredge to the eastern part of the Newport bay, a mud flat called "Snipe Island," and begin cutting a channel along the north side of the bay across from the Pavilion, piling the sand and silt up on the mud flat and thus Balboa Island was born.
  As Balboa Isle began to take shape, Collins launched a national advertising campaign, offering 30 foot by 85 foot inland lots for $600 and waterfront lots for $750. He used a brochure picturing an elegant, but non-existing, hotel on the isle to help sell his lots. He also promised ferry service, electricity, paved streets, sewers, streetlights, and water. However, despite the advertisements, Collins originally sold lots on the Island for as little as $25.00, with promises that all streets, sewers and street lights would soon be installed and a bridge and ferry service to follow. Construction was begun for the ferry landing. Streets were staked out and lots were mapped. Even a few narrow sidewalks were built. A low 14-inch (360 mm) wooden bulkhead was built along the south side of the island and an impromptu sewer system was laid out with pipes draining onto the beaches at their low tide levels to keep the discharge out of sight. He established the still-running Balboa Ferry.
  Balboa isle owners struggled for years with poor roads, flimsy sidewalks, sewers that poured directly into the bay, and a wall so inadequate that homes were regularly flooded by high tides. By 1911, discouragement permeated the island, and owners left, tired of inadequate services. Neglected homes dotted the island, and lot prices fell to as little as $325. Still optimistic, Collins held an extravagant Fourth of July celebration in 1914. He distributed 8,000 brochures nationwide as well as promoting locally. He was successful, and thousands came to enjoy races, tours, food, and parades. Lots began selling again. Before long, Collins had sold 700 Balboa Island lots, establishing it as one of Newport Harbor's favorite residential and recreational areas.
  The island grew slowly at first, but in 1916, it became part of the City of Newport Beach. In 1918 the Balboa Island Improvement Association was started (and is still going strong). The BIIA was a motivating force in working with the City on bulkhead repair, ferry service, a sewer system, water, gas, electricity, paved streets and sidewalks, and street lighting.
  In those early days of 1919, water for the Island came from the famous "Wooden Water Tower" built on Agate Street, removed in 1929. In 1920, Park Avenue was the only paved road on the Island. People had outhouses behind their houses as there was no sewer, and some buried their trash in vacant lots.  In 1920, a gas utility came to the Island providing heating, 
caption: Public Dock on Balboa Island, Newport Beach California
exif: {"Image Make": "LEICA", "Image Model": "D-LUX 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:03:09 14:44:00", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "618", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5903", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:03:09 12:26:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:03:09 12:26:06", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1245723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "209759/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "51/10", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3968", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2232", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera"}